


Oh My God They Were Roommates

by synonym4life



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Butch Millicent, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Humor, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-18
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-04-03 21:42:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14005410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synonym4life/pseuds/synonym4life
Summary: A small, fun tale about Millicent Bulstrode and how she falls in love.





	Oh My God They Were Roommates

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GingerTodgers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerTodgers/gifts).



> Ginger, this is my small gift to you. <3 It's only a short ficlet, but I really hope you enjoy it and I hope I got at least a few of your likes right. I'm honoured (and a bit intimidated, ngl) to be your gifter. 
> 
> Unfortunately, I didn't have time to have the fic betaed, so let's just pretend the mistakes aren't there?

There was a seventeen-year-old girl crying on Millicent’s shoulder and, as always, she had no idea what to do. She gave her an awkward pat, opened her mouth to say something comforting, but when no words came out she closed it again. Nadia, a brilliant young woman just barely out of Hogwarts, who was always so good with people, always energetic, helpful and confident, had been reduced to tears by an utter bowtruckle of a customer. Millicent patted her shoulder again trying to think of some — any — words that would console her. Maybe ‘It wasn’t your fault’ or ‘Don’t worry some customers are just difficult’ would do?

  


“It’s not your fault people are cunts.” Well, a rather crass mix of the two, but it got the point across, she thought as Nadia giggled through a sniff and finally disengaged from Millicent’s shoulder. 

  


“George will be so mad. That woman just blasted a whole collection of Decoy Detonators,” she half-whispered. 

  


“If anything, George will play a prank on her if she ever dares step into the store again,” Millicent said with a smile. Nadia had only worked in Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes for two weeks and it looked like she hadn’t yet realized that George was a lot more interested in pranking difficult customers than in punishing his employees. “You should ask Alex what George did when a customer told him he was a lazy swine. Let me just tell you the man probably kept emitting  _ oinks _ every three words for a whole day.” 

  


Unsurprisingly, it was this image that truly cleared the girl’s face. She smiled, visibly relieved. “Thanks. And...uhh…” she waved in the direction of Millicent’s shoulder, “sorry for that. I don’t usually break down like that. I’ve just...it’s been a difficult week.”

  


Millicent understood what difficult weeks were like. She had them too. More often, when she was younger and still grappling with who she was as opposed to who she was supposed to be, but it still happened sometimes. “Listen, take today off, if you want. It’s Wednesday, there won’t be many customers this afternoon. Relax, eat some ice cream, you know the drill.” She gave her another comforting double-tap on the shoulder as Nadia started excessively thanking her. She looked like she was about to hug Millicent again, this time out of gratitude, when Angelina saved her from another bout of physical affection.

  


“Millicent! Guess what!” Angelina came bursting down the aisle, a big smile on her face. She was dragging a tall woman dressed in light blue robes along. A really, really, beautiful woman in Millicent’s very gay opinion. “I found you a flatmate! Oh, sorry!” she said after noticing the red-eyed Nadia. 

  


“It’s okay,” Nadia replied quickly. “I’m off anyway. Thank you!” She beamed at Millicent, waved at them and rushed out. 

  


“I found you a flatmate!” Angelina repeated herself even though Millicent couldn’t have ignored her the first time round because a) Angelina was loud and b) because Millicent had been dreading getting a flatmate ever since George announced he needed to get someone to help him in the lab. “I’m not sure if you know her, but this is Padma Patil —”

  


“I know,” Millicent interrupted. 

  


“You do?” It was the first time Padma spoke. She looked genuinely surprised. 

  


“You’re kind of hard to overlook,” Millicent blurted out and immediately after wanted to slam her head against the nearest shelf.  _ Off to a good start, aren’t you _ , she told her babbling mouth. 

  


“What do you mean?” Padma looked more intrigued than suspicious. Millicent glanced at Angelina begging for help with her eyes. Angelina just smirked letting her flounder. Each day of being George’s girlfriend made her a little bit meaner. 

  


“Well...you...uhh,” Millicent vaguely waved her hands in Padma’s direction, “you know.” She ended her sentence on a shrug. Padma’s eyebrow rose in question but a small smirk curled her lip, so Millicent highly suspected she wasn’t quite so clueless as to what her hand-waving had meant. Padma’s appearance was truly striking, but it was her energy that really incapacitated people. Yes, she had beautiful brown skin and long black hair that went down to her waist and a gorgeous smile, but her eyes sparkled with wit and she had an air of confidence about her - an air of a painfully intelligent Ravenclaw. 

  


“Padma’s joining our team,” Angelina finally decided to rescue Millicent. “She’ll be helping George in the lab - mostly as a developer of new items. She used to work in the Department of Mysteries, so she’s an expert on...well...the weirdest magic you can imagine.”

  


“Department of Mysteries?” Now that was a surprise. Millicent knew Padma was an extremely gifted witch, but the DoM only took the smartest, most creative magical people in the country. “Why are you here, then? Did they sack you?”  _ Oh, nice one,  _ she told her annoying filter-less mouth,  _ just assume she’s incompetent, she’ll love it. _

  


Padma didn’t particularly love it, but she did find it amusing, at least, seeing how she laughed in response. “I wish.” She laughed again. “I had to beg my way out. It was simply too stressful. I...after the war —” she stopped, but ploughed on, refusing to be embarrassed, “ —I’m not as good at handling stress as I used to be before.” 

  


“Yeah, I…yeah.” Millicent felt herself nod.

  


“Well!” Angelina brought them back to reality. “She’s settling in the empty room in your flat. You said you’ll move in during the weekend?” She checked with Padma, who nodded. “Great. Now, let me show you the lab! Oh, George will be so excited to work with you!” were the last words Millicent heard when Padma was dragged back down the aisle. 

  


Angelina’s enthusiasm, Millicent had learned soon after Hogwarts, extended far beyond just Quidditch.  

  


______

  


So, Padma moved in and it was all fine. Well, as fine as living with another human can be. There were things that annoyed Millicent to no end. For example it seemed like Padma was a mug-collector because, gradually, during the week mugs kept disappearing from the cupboard until there were none left and Millicent had to drink her cocoa from a bowl. She also kept moving Millicent’s plants, which was completely fucking useless if Millicent could give her honest opinion, but Padma insisted that plants had a special energy about them and needed to be moved now and then so that the energy could circulate. She had also moved the rosemary to the kitchen window, not because of the energy, but because she used it for cooking, which, in retrospect, explained why its leaves were all chipped. Millicent couldn’t bring herself to be angry about it — Padma made the best marinated chicken she had ever tasted. 

  


It was all fine. Millicent did occasionally drop her wand when Padma gave her a brilliant smile and she knocked over a cup once or twice when Padma ruffled her hair in the morning, but it wasn’t Padma’s fault that Millicent was (helplessly) attracted to her.

  


Everything was fine until Padma befriended her Pygmy Puff, Bulb, who never liked anyone’s attention, but seemed to melt in Padma’s hands. Bulb didn’t even like Millicent that much and, frankly, she felt at least a little betrayed, even though she, were she a Puffskein, would have done the same. Padma was soft and bright and kind and she smiled at little things like an ant climbing over the counter carrying a crumb of bread. And when she laughed it was loud and unapologetic and it echoed confidently in the room and whenever she laughed with her, Millicent stopped feeling self-conscious about her own deep, grating guaff. 

  


It really was all fine, but then Padma started calling her Millie and she started making her coffee in the morning because she had noticed that Millicent was always grumpy and unable to do anything other than grunt before 8 a.m. rolled around.  Padma would sit with her at the kitchen table, not talking, just sitting quietly, sipping her coffee giving Millicent all the time she needed to wake up from the sleep’s firm grasp. 

  


All was still sort of fine when they had a board-game party at George’s and Angelina’s flat below and she and Padma absolutely trashed the others at Magic Activity. Millicent had had to humiliate herself by pretending to be a Blast-Ended-Skrewt. In fact, she ended up having to blast her wand past her arse to propel herself forward in order for Padma to guess the answer, but the look of triumph on Padma’s face when she got it right was worth every bruise on Millicent’s knees and elbows. It was even fine when they got drunk that night and upon returning to their flat Padma started singing Honey, Honey from ABBA at the top of her voice in the middle of the kitchen at 3 a.m. She sang and screamed and they danced a drunken dance bumping into the counter and into the table until Padma fell boneless against Millicent giggling into her neck. For once in her life Millicent was happy that she was big and strong so that she could carry the uncooperating witch to her bed. 

  


Then it all stopped being fun. Frankly, it all dropped right down to the last circle of hell, however many there were, when one time during movie night Padma held her hand. Padma was having horrible cramps that evening so Millicent made them popcorn and nutella pancakes and they curled up to watch a silly romantic film that, of course, Millicent ended up secretly liking. One hand resting on the hot-water bottle on her stomach, Padma shifted slightly, leaned her head on Millicent’s shoulder and took her hand in hers while mumbling a grateful ‘thank you’. 

  


And Millicent’s head imploded. This was bad. This was really, really fucking atrocious, actually. She was fucking  _ in love _ and that didn’t bode well for her because Padma was probably just being nice and...and it was just _ bad _ .

  


______

  
  


“George! Merlin fucking help me, I will stick Exploding Snap cards up your arse if you’re not here!” She burst into his office as soon as she got herself down to the store. 

  


“Mills! To what do I owe your rage this early in the morn?” George answered with a grin that was far too bright for Millicent’s state of emotional turmoil.

  


“George, what do I do?” Millicent felt the question come out on a decidedly whiney note. “Merlin’s pierced nipples, I’m in love with her damn it! And it was fine. All was fine, but then she started making me coffee in the morning and she danced to ABBA with me and she held my hand and even  _ Bulb fucking likes her _ ! He likes her and he hates everyone. And she cares about plant energy and she keeps hugging me and I don’t even hate it and you _ know _ how I hate hugging!” 

  


She was pacing, even though the small space only allowed two steps each way. “She held my hand for the whole night when we fell asleep on the couch! I can’t bear this platonic over-affection with her anymore!” She ended on a huff and collapsed on a small stool in a corner. Looking up, she saw George looking at her unblinkingly. 

  


“Are you serious?” he finally said after a full minute of silence. “Bloody lesbians. This is Ginny and Luna all over again.” 

  


“What?” 

  


“She likes you, too, you clueless twat! For weeks, she’s been moaning to me how you completely ignore her affections and how she thinks you’re not the least bit interested in her.”

  


“No way.” Millicent shook her head. “Why didn’t she say anything?” 

  


George gave her a quelling look that clearly stated he thought she was intelligent enough to see the irony in her question. After a few seconds, they both started laughing, every snort making the other laugh more. 

  


“Thanks, George,” Millicent said when her shoulders finally settled and her breathing calmed down. Laughing with George always left her feeling lighter, as if nothing in the world could touch her. It felt like those first days of getting to know him, those long hard days after the war, when they were both learning how to live again. She still remembered the first time they laughed to tears together — it had been the first time that they felt like maybe, one day, happiness wouldn’t feel so far away. 

  


Today happiness felt quite close.

  


“What are you still doing here?” George pointed at the door. “She’s up there.”

  
  


______

  
  


Now that the initial rush of adrenalin had passed and confession time loomed ahead, Millicent’s climb back up the stairs was a lot more nerve-wracking. When she finally made it to the flat, she found Padma in the sitting room, ficus in hand and a pondering look on her face. 

  


“Padma,” Millicent interrupted her musings, startling her so much that she almost dropped the plant. 

  


“Oh, hi,” Padma greeted. Millicent could detect a slight bitterness in her voice. “You weren’t here for the morning coffee.” 

  


Thinking about it, leaving Padma alone after cuddling on the couch together all night might not have been the best decision of her life.

  


“Sorry.” Millicent stepped closer gathering her courage. “Listen, I think we’re being really fucking dim, here. I — fuck — I’m not good at saying these things. I just...this thing...you and me.” 

  


“Yeah?” Padma was standing there, stock still, eyes wary and hands clutching the pot tightly. The ficus was hiding half of her face but Millicent could still see her uncertainty.

  


Millicent took a calming breath. “Let me just say that I hope the perfect spot for that ficus isn’t right between you and me because I’d really like to kiss you now.” 

  


A smile, small and disbelieving at first but strong and beaming only a second later, stretched across Padma’s face. “I...uhh, no. No, I think the ficus’ perfect energetic position at this moment is precisely on the carpet beside my right leg,” she said cheekily as she bent down to place the plant on the floor. 

  


“Great.” Millicent felt her voice had gone a bit breathy. She stepped closer and cupped Padma’s cheek pulling her closer. Slowly. Padma’s hand curled at the nape of Millicent’s neck and it was she who closed the last few inches before their lips finally met. A slight gasp escaped Millicent. Padma’s lips were soft but insistent and when their tongues met Millicent’s brain filled with fog and she lost herself in the kiss —  until a soft  _ thud _ came from the side. They glanced at the floor and broke apart laughing. Bulb, the Pygmy Puff, had climbed onto the ficus knocking it over while trying to get closer to the action.

  


“Does it matter to the energy field if the plant is in vertical or horizontal position?” Millicent asked innocently.

  


Padma swatted her hand. “Doesn’t matter right now,” she whispered, her mouth again only an inch from Millicent’s before she went in for another kiss.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I love comments, especially on a niche pairing like this. Hope you enjoyed it if you gave it a chance!


End file.
